city grid
on the way to work today i was thinking about how our city is laid out in a grid pattern, and what makes that grid of streets deviate from the pattern. there are two things that make the deviation occur.first, there is the natural occurrence where the street must curve to make way for a stream bed, hill, etc. this happens in a few places in our city - Red Hill is one place where Carnelian curves around the hill between Foothill and Baseline.
second, there is the previously built occurrence. obviously there comes a time when a new street must be built and go through an area where homes or buildings already exist. this is an occurrence that happens around the Victoria Gardens mall and many other new developments in our area, including the recent construction of the 210 freeway.
lots of cities are laid out in grids, like Los Angeles for example. on the other hand, there are many cities that are not laid out in grid patterns, like Paris. Paris is laid out by using landmarks and axes. main thoroughfares bridge between two landmarks and the smaller street go off of those. so there would be a main street between the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. Here's a map to illustrate.
the interesting thing is when these occurrences happen, and the new road supersedes the previously built building. there are several times where the city has moved the building to make way for the new road. one house that was moved is a famous carpenters house. Sam Maloof was the carpenter, and they paid him $2 million plus the cost of relocating his house to the top of Carnelian Street. Sam has his hand-made rocking chairs in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.
the next time you are driving around our city, look to see why the roads deviate from the grid. i hope my house needs to be moved someday. not likely.
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